10 Mistakes Beginners Make with their Websites

Creating and marketing a website is not easy. Billions of people are now on the Internet, but the number of websites is increasing even more rapidly. This is why it is important not to make any beginner mistakes on the company’s own website as much as possible. That’s why today I want to introduce 10 problems that are found on company websites and which you should avoid on your business website.

10. Black Hat SEO

Under black hat SEO methods, one understands various technical and content tricks to deceive search engines. Basically, it’s about making your own website in the eyes of the search engine more important and interesting than it really is. There are specialists who know and use the latest black hat tricks to bring websites to the top of Google. That’s why it usually takes a while for the search engines to eject them from the index. But that’s okay because then these people with other tricks already have many other sites on Google at the top. The black hat tricks that are used by the “normal” web-masters are usually outdated tricks (doorway pages, hidden text etc.) that are discovered by Google instantly. The punishment often follows very quickly. One should be honest for his company website, since one does not have the know-how of the specialists and secondly should focus on a long-term success with it’s company’s website.

9. Fear of contact

It’s strange. Many company owners want a website with converting visitors, but when it comes to contact opportunities, they seem to be afraid. Many do not even have contact forms or telephone numbers or other contact options. They try to avoid communicating with their visitors. Perhaps they are afraid of abuse or want to be “disturbed” only in your own shop, but not by phone or email of your customers.

You should offer as many contact options as possible, as each customer has different preferences regarding contact. Do not hide this information, but apply it as prominently as possible on your website. This is a sign of trust.

8. Look alone at the optics

A nice site with great photos, graphics, and elegant writings is a beautiful site. But all too often people forget about other important elements of a successful website. Content and usability play an important role in addressing customers. What’s the use of content on a site if it’s difficult to access. Find a balanced blend of optics and content. In a case of doubt, you should choose content or usability.

7. Do not look at the optics

However, the other extreme should not be followed. There are websites that have very good content, but the optics simply frighten off. The optics of your website must support the content and give it a suitable framework. The basic design should be directed primarily at the users. A modern and very tasteful design can also be wrong if it does not match the product and the target group. A simple comparison would be Google’s minimal design approach, which focuses on usability vs Bing’s cluttered design. As mentioned previously, the appearance of a website is an important part of the overall package. This should not be underestimated or overlooked.

6. No goals for the site

A mistake that many self-employed people make is not to have goals for their own website. Many tend to have a diffuse idea of how to present themselves and their services. Without goals, however, it is not possible to plan the contents and measures of the website properly, nor to check whether success has been achieved. Define your goals for your website accurately and optimize content, optics, and marketing on them. And don’t forget to check if you were successful.

5. Frames and other technical sins

There are still a few relics from the start times of the Web. These include frames that were used happily and are still used by many to separate parts of a website, such as navigating to separate files. This technique has many drawbacks. On the one, the frames hinder search engines from searching, so that the indexing of the website is impeded. On the other hand, it is not possible for users to bookmark sub-pages. Try to make content more accessible to users. Avoid frames and use the most up-to-date techniques. With CSS you can save a lot of bandwidth and also make the website very accessible, apart from the expanded design possibilities.

4. Splash Screens

Splash screens usually take a long time to load. Even a slight delay in your website load would affect conversions. Give users what they are looking for. Show them what they require or are finding on your website. It is not sensible to introduce a 5-minute image video to customers before they are even allowed to see your products.

3. Fire and forget

While many companies invest a lot of time in creating a website, many sites are simply broke. But just today it is important to regularly incorporate current and new content. This not only works wonders for search engines but also gives potential customers a new reading feed again and again. Current promotions, product news, current references, industry news, customer testimonials and many others can be published on his company website and thus regularly provide new content. A company website requires constant support. Just as you maintain your business premises, your expenses and everything else, you also need to optimize and improve your website on a regular basis.

2. Too little text

One of the biggest mistakes I keep seeing is the text-poverty on many corporate websites. More than 2 or 3 sentences do not seem to have fallen into the company’s page. The text is the central point of a website. Not only that you can have a positive effect on your visitors with the right words, you also provide as much text as possible for better listing on Google. Search engine robots can only evaluate texts (okay, they can also analyze flash, and image files, but not yet perfect and I would not rely on it yet). Based on these evaluations, your website or the individual pages of your website are assigned to the search terms of the search engine users. Write at least 200-300 words per page about a single topic. So instead of selling 10 products on a single page, you should put 200-300 words about a product, one page at a time. And please as text and not as images!

1. Waiting for the great visitor rush

You think that a website is sufficient to allow potential customers to start buying from you? Sorry I have to disappoint you. That’s not going to happen. A few users will get lost on their website in the first few months and after that, the number will rise only slowly. No one is waiting for your site and is queuing up so that he can finally do it. You need to bring your website to the eyes of potential readers/customers. There are many possibilities for this, especially the so-called social media sites are very hot. Write good content that focus on the problems and needs of your target group and market them on social websites. Become active in topic related forums or on blogs. Actively exchange links with related websites. Without sweat and hard work, you will not win a flower pot on the Internet. You see, so much the virtual world does not differ from the real world. 🙂

Conclusion

Of course, these 10 tips are not conclusive and the answer to all website problems. But those who heed these 10 tips, should have a better website than 95% of it’s local competition. I would be interested in your experiences. What mistakes do you see again and again or did you even do yourself? Let me know in the comments.

About the Author

Faizan Shaikh

Faizan has been working on the Internet since 4 years. He has studied B.Sc. IT. He likes helping businesses grow on the Internet & likes sharing his knowledge.